Clint Black didn’t waste time with pleasantries to open his Friday-night concert in the Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Instead he launched into a 1-2-3 punch of “The Shoes You’re Wearing,” “Summer’s Comin’” and “A Better Man” – all No. 1 hits.
He has the catalog to do that.
Black, who stocked his 95-minute set with hit after hit, was the latest performer in the Country at Dr. Phillips series at the downtown Orlando arts center. The series already has hosted Sawyer Brown, Sammy Kershaw and Vince Gill – acts that, like Black, saw their greatest successes from the late 1980s through the 1990s.
Black, now 64, has seen his distinctive nasal twang age – even he jokes about how easy it is for him to impersonate Willie Nelson these days. But the charming grin and warm sense of humor remain intact.
After his high-octane opening, in fact, Black shared plenty of anecdotes, reminiscences and dad jokes with the crowd. At one point he told the audience, straight-faced, that he had to “cut all the dance numbers and costume changes” from the show. “You’re dripping with disappointment,” he deadpanned, eyes twinkling.
But Black has never needed such fancy trappings; his strength lies in the catchy songs he writes, often with collaborator Hayden Nicholas, who was among the singer’s six-piece band on Friday. The two have a working relationship that goes back some 40 years.
Among the duo’s best-known songs included in the concert: An energetic “Good Run of Bad Luck” and crowd-pleasing “Killin’ Time,” which turned into an audience singalong.
Black paid tribute to Merle Haggard with a rousing performance of “Untanglin’ My Mind,” which he co-wrote with the country legend. And he also saluted Waylon Jennings with a rollicking rendition of “Are You Sure Waylon Done It This Way.”
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The shoutouts emphasized Black’s role in reviving a more traditional country sound, which remians evident in his music’s fiddling, harmonica and pedal steel.
Black also name dropped Nelson as part of another anecdote about an, ahem, smoky encounter on his tour bus. How much of it was true? Hard to say, but it was one of many times Black got the crowd laughing.
“I think you’re up to 97 theme parks now?” he quipped about how Orlando has grown since his last Central Florida concert.
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Black’s comic way with words extends into his music; he offered a preview of an upcoming release, a clever twist on a traditional country love ballad, called “Now the Devil Don’t Live Here Anymore.”
He finished his set with a revved-up “Nothin’ but the Taillights,” and returned for an encore with a zippy “We Tell Ourselves.”
Duo Bryan Malpass and Tanner Johnson opened for Black with a 35-minute set that highlighted Malpass’s rock-edged baritone and Johnson’s dynamic fiddling. The musicians, who perform at Disney Springs, piqued the crowd’s interest with an unusual countrified version of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Unsurprisingly, it’s not as danceable as the original.
The Dr. Phillips Center’s country series is designed to evoke a sense of nostalgia – the official website refers to “the spirit of classic country” – and Black’s concert fit the bill nicely. As he sang “Ain’t it funny how a melody can bring back a memory,” a lyric from 1993’s “State of Mind,” I was immediately transported back to my tiny windowless office at a tiny Central New York newspaper where I was employed at the time – and passed the workday listening to Black’s hits on cassette (yes, cassette).
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“Is it working?” Black asked the crowd about the song’s promise to “take you to another place in time” and “completely change your state of mind.”
Most definitely.
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more entertainment news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/entertainment or sign up to receive our weekly emailed Entertainment newsletter.
Ahead this week
• What: The next entry in the Country at Dr. Phillips series will be a performance by Little Big Town
• When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25
• Where: Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in Orlando
• Cost: $70.21 and up
• Info:drphillipscenter.org
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This story was originally published September 19, 2026 at 5:06 AM.